Cornwall Mountain Investments L.P. v. Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust

40 Pa. D. & C.5th 35
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County
DecidedAugust 4, 2014
DocketNo. 11-00,718
StatusPublished

This text of 40 Pa. D. & C.5th 35 (Cornwall Mountain Investments L.P. v. Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lycoming County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cornwall Mountain Investments L.P. v. Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust, 40 Pa. D. & C.5th 35 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014).

Opinion

ANDERSON, J.,

— Before the court is the motion for partial judgment on the pleadings filed by plaintiff Cornwall Mountain Investments, L.P. on January 14, 2014, joined in by plaintiff Range Resources — Appalachia, LLC on March 14, 2014. Argument was heard March 28, 2014. As responses to the motion raised the possibility that indispensable parties had not been joined, further pleading was directed on April 3,2014, and a further argument held May 5,2014. Thereafter, by order of that date, plaintiffs were directed to join the Margaret O.F. Proctor Trust as a defendant and that defendant was then given an opportunity to respond to the motion. That response was filed July 1,2014, and the matter is now ripe for decision.

In its second amended complaint, plaintiffs seek to quiet title to the oil, gas and mineral estate (hereinafter “mineral estate”) in certain land in Lewis and Cogan House Townships.1 Plaintiffs contend the mineral estate was severed from the surface by a reservation of the rights by Thomas E. Proctor in a conveyance to the Elk Tanning Company in 1894. Plaintiffs further contend that the [37]*37mineral estate was separately assessed for taxes in 1930 and 1931 and that those taxes were not paid and thus the estate was sold at a tax sale in 1932. In count I, plaintiffs claim title to the property by way of treasurer’s deeds issued following that tax sale.2 In count II, plaintiffs claim title through adverse possession.

In the instant motion, plaintiffs seek judgment on count I, based on the pleadings which set forth the facts of the tax sale in 1932 and the issuance of the deeds into Cornwall Mountain Club, its predecessor in interest, the fact that the estate was never redeemed and the fact that no action for its recovery was brought within the five-year period after the sale. Those in opposition to the motion have raised various objections, all of which the court considers legal arguments, none of which raises issues of fact. After careful consideration of all arguments, the court finds that none of the objections has merit and plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

First, an objection is raised by the Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust that the Lycoming County taxing authorities lacked the authority to assess and tax the mineral estate, citing Independent Oil and Gas Association of Pennsylvania v. Board of Assessment Appeal of Fayette County, 814 A.2d 840 (Pa. 2002), which held that there is no statutory authority in Pennsylvania authorizing the imposition of a real estate tax on oil or gas interests. The lack of such authority, argues the Trust, rendered [38]*38the assessment invalid and the tax sale void. Further, in response to plaintiffs’ reliance on Oz Gas Limited v. Warren Area School District, 938 A.2d 274 (Pa. 2007), which held that IOGA was not to be applied retroactively, the Trust contends that Oz’s limitation on retroactivity should be applied to requests for refunds of taxes only (the factual scenario in IOGA), and that IOGA should be applied retroactively to invalidate assessments and render tax sales void. The court does not read Oz so narrowly, however. The Supreme Court acknowledged that retroactive application of IOGA would have “potentially devastating consequences” to taxing entities. The consequences to parties who purchased property at tax sales would be no less devastating, as those interests would be lost, oftentimes after much has been invested. Between the party who purchased a property under what was believed to be a valid process, and the party who lost the property due to his failure to pay what was believed to be a valid tax, the court believes the equities weigh in favor of the purchaser. Therefore, IOGA will not be applied retroactively to invalidate the sale and the Trust’s objection on this basis has no merit.

The Trust next objects to the sale on the grounds that lack of production resulted in no basis on which to value the mineral estate and thus no basis on which to assess the tax, rendering the sale void, citing F.H. Rockwell & Company v. Warren County, 77 A. 665 (Pa. 1910), and Herder Spring Hunting Club v. Keller, No. 2008-334 (Centre County, September 29, 2010). In reversing the trial court in Herder Spring Hunting Club, however, the [39]*39Superior Court noted such a challenge as a “collateral attack” on “overvaluation” and stated that such an attack was not allowed fifty years later, citing Bannard v. New York State Natural Gas Corporation, 293 A.2d 41 (Pa. 1972). Herder Spring Hunting Club v. Keller, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 699 (2014). Here, the attack comes eighty years later. This objection is thus also without merit.

Objection is also based on the fact that the assessments at issue referred only to “mineral rights” and it is argued that under the Dunham Rule,3 oil and gas were thus not included in the assessment and the subsequent treasurer’s deeds. In Bannard v. New York State Natural Gas Corporation, supra, however, the court specifically held that the rule does not obtain in a tax sale as “the deed is based on the assessment and conveys the interests in land which are properly included within the assessment”, and also that an assessment of “minerals only” includes the entire estate owned by the party assessed. While the Trust argues that Bannard has been called into question by the subsequent holding in Butler v. Charles Powers Estate, 65 A.3d 896 (Pa. 2013), which upheld the Dunham rule in a direct attack, the court in Butler was careful to refer only to “private deed” transactions. Where the underlying estate is adequately described in the owner’s chain of title, it makes no sense to require a showing of the parties’ [40]*40intent in a tax sale of that estate. Therefore, this objection is also without merit.

The Trust finally objects by asserting that there were two separate reservations at the time of the tax sale, one made in 1867 by Clement Biddle of “all of the premises’ ores of iron, lead, and copper and % of all minerals, coal and oils”, and one made in 1894 by Thomas E. Proctor of “all of the premises’ gas rights and Vk of the premises coal, oil and mineral rights.”4 Since the tax sale purported to sell “mineral rights”, the Trust argues that the rights actually sold were those reserved by Biddle and not those reserved by proctor. This argument is faulty for several reasons. First, it is based on the incorrect assumption that the Biddle reservation remained viable in 1932. The record shows, however, that the Biddle reservation was wiped out by a tax sale of the surface estate in 1890.5 Second, the proctor reservation is actually of “all of the natural gas, coal, coal-oil, petroleum, marble, and all minerals of every kind and character.” See The Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust’s answer to plaintiff’s second amended complaint, paragraphs 73.10-12, and deed between Thomas E. Proctor and Emma H. Proctor and the Elk Tanning Company dated October 2, 1894, attached as exhibit 5 to the answer (emphasis added). Third, the assessor’s records show the estate being taxed and sold as owned by “Thomas E.

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Related

Oz Gas, Ltd. v. Warren Area School District
938 A.2d 274 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Toal Associates v. Workers' Compensation Appeal Board
814 A.2d 837 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)
Butler v. Charles Powers Estate ex rel. Warren
65 A.3d 885 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Herder Spring Hunting Club v. Keller
93 A.3d 465 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Dunham & Shortt v. Kirkpatrick
101 Pa. 36 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1882)
Hutchinson v. Kline
49 A. 312 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1901)
Rockwell v. Warren County
77 A. 665 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1910)
Bannard v. New York State Natural Gas Corp.
293 A.2d 41 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1972)
Ellis v. Houseknecht
57 Pa. Super. 55 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1914)

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Bluebook (online)
40 Pa. D. & C.5th 35, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cornwall-mountain-investments-lp-v-thomas-e-proctor-heirs-trust-pactcompllycomi-2014.